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MEMORIAL 



WILLIAM M C KI N LEY 




REV. JOSEPH H. ROCKWELL SJ 




HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN L. BATES 
Governor of Massachusetts. 




\M McKINLEY 



MEMORIAL 



WILLIAM M C KINLEY. 



CITY OF BOSTON. 



PREPARED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL BY JOHN F. DEVER, 
CLERK OF COMMITTEES. 




BOSTON: 

Municipal Printing Office. 
1902. 



In Board <>i Aldermen, December 12, L901. 

Ordered, Thai the Clerk of Committees, under the direction 
of the Committee on Printing, be authorized to prepare and have 
printed an edition of two thousand copies of a volume contain- 
ing an accounl of the memorial services held in Faneuil Ball, 
November 26, l'.tOl, in honor of the late President McKinley; 
the expense of the same to be charged to the appropriation for 
City Council, Incidental Expenses. 

Passed. Sent down for concurrence. December l l' came up 
concurred. Approved by the Mayor December 23, 1901. 



JtJ 7 1903 
D. ofD, 



ACTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 



Satirkay, September 14, 1901. 

Special meeting of both branches of the City Council were 
held in their respective chambers, at 12 M., pursuant to the 
following call : 

Mayor's office, September 14, 1901. 

To the Honorable the City Council of Huston : 

Having been informed of the death, which occurred this morning, of 
William McKinley, the President of the United States, you are hereby 
requested to assemble in your respective chambers on Saturday, Septem- 
ber 14, 1901, at twelve o'clock M., for the purpose of taking such action 
touching the solemn event as would appropriately express the sym- 
pathy of our citizens in this national sorrow, and their respect for the 
memory of the deceased. 

James H. Doyle, Acting Mayor. 



IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN. 



The Board was called to order by Chairman Doyle. The Clerk 
read the call for the meeting, as printed above, and it was sent 
down. 

The following was received : 

Mayor's OFFrCE, September 14, 1901. 

To the Honorable the City Council: 

Gentlemen, — Under the call of the Acting Mayor you are requested 
to take proper action on the loss we suffer in the death of William 
McKinley, President of the United States. 

A suitable order is submitted herewith, to be supplemented by such 
further resolutions and orders as you may think appropriate. 

It is not needful that we praise the late President. He was among 
the best known and best beloved of men. And as time goes on, it is not 
likely that his just fame for purity and integrity will suffer. 



6 MEMORIAL OF 

Like many of our public men, lie has left to ns a stainless name, to be 

] red and loved throughoul the land, especially in every American 

home. As far as lies in human nature, he represented whatsoever is 
besl in our people. lie was a true American, of the people, with the 

people, for the people. May his death unite our ] pie more and more. 

President McKinley will be gratefully remembered bj his close and 
honorable connection with a period of unexampled prosperity and 
advancement in our affairs; promoted, in the natural course ol events, 
to the highest place in our country, he won the confidence and affi 

akind. Let us unite with President Roosevelt, and with all proper 
authorities, in the brave discharge of all our duties, thai liberty, 
morality and true progress may be ours under Divine Providi 

Respeetfully, 

Tiiom \~ N. II \i;i. Mayor. 

Read ami scut down. 

Chairman of the Board of Aldermen, James II. Doyle, said: 

Gentlemen of the Board of A ld< rmi n, — When a friend dies we mourn. 
We review his virtues, and hold in loving memory Ids goodness of heart 
and kindh acts. We cherish him with a sacredness of thought which 

wi i ninot give to the living. To-day we are called here to mourn for 
the ruler of this mightj nation. His virtues are widely known. It is 
seld that a citizen of these i nited states can point to a man like our 

late illustrious 1 'resident and defy anyone to lind a I law in his ch;i 
Spotless and pure, brave and tender, loving and true. What a noble 

soul: 

It passes comprehension to think that such a man should fall by the 
hand of an ignorant brute, it tills one with such amazement that 
words fail to portray the loathing and disgust which tills one's mind 
when one pauses to reflect on the difference between the martyr and the 
murderer. The ways of the Almighty arc inscrutable, and we creatures 
can but how in submission to His infinite wisdom; but we are at least 
granted the sad privilege of mourning for our 1 'resident and of praying 
for his afflicted wife. 

His race is run. He lias been called before the judgment seat, and 
who could more worthily answer the last call" The highest type ol 
American manhood was exemplified by William McKinley. He died as 
g and unflinching. 

lie has died, but h( leaves behind an imperishable name. He now 
rank with the other two rulers of this nation who died by the 

assassin's hand, and with Lincoln and Garfield Will his name remain 
enshrined in the heart of the country he fought to save, and which 
glories to call him a son. 

I |e lias fougl Ighl . and has gone to his reward. 



william Mckinley. 7 

City Clerk Edward J. Donovan read the following : 

Resolved, That the City Government of Boston learns with sorrow 
that William McKinley, President of the United States, is no longer 
among the living. 

Resolved, That in that death of President McKinley we have sustained 
an irreparable loss, deeply felt by our City, our Country, and mankind. 

Resolved, That we honor the public and private virtues of the 
deceased, his citizenship, his Americanism, his simplicity, and his 
faith. 

Resolved, That the members of the City Government of Boston, 
collectively and individually, offer to the family of the late. President 
their full sympathy in this sorrowful day of affliction. 

The question came upon the passage of the resolutions : 
Aldermen George Holden Tinkham said : 

Mr. Chairman, — America weeps; the Nations mourn; tearful sorrow 
stalks through the land; for McKinley the Good, McKinley the lirave, 
McKinley Our President, lies dead. 

One more hero, one more martyr, one more President lies dead for 
his country and our homes. His life from Antietam has been one 
glorious service, one saintly sacrifice to his Country and its honor. 

For Union he battled in '61; for what was highest and best and most 
enlightened he has fought since with a courage which has known no 
faltering, with a hand which could not tremble, with an eye which 
looked for inspiration to his God. Most beloved of the people, most 
sanctified in life, most heroic in danger, history's illustrious man, may 
thy soul rest in peace and the joy in the hereafter be past understand- 
ing. 

Alderman Michael W. Norris said : 

Mr Chairman and Gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen, — It is our sad 
duty to assemble here to-day to mourn for President William McKinley. 
We mourn for him as a man and a ruler. What words I can say will be 
of but little moment when the country is in the throes of an affliction 
which has not befallen her for many years, and, please God, may not 
occur at any time in the future. President McKinley dead at the hands 
of a most contemptible person! I cannot appreciate the enormity of 
this loss. It overwhelms me to think that such a man should be shot 
down while surrounded by loyal citizens who delighted to honor him, 
and were honored in turn by their choice of such a man as ruler of these 
United States. The pity of it ! To think that a man of his noble char- 
acter, his broad humanity and purity of thought, should be taken away 
from us when so many useless beings cumber the earth. 



8 MEMORIAL OF 

Winn history is written what a thrill will go through the veins of the 
young men of this country as they read of William McKinley. He is an 
ideal for coming generations of Americans, lie exemplified in his 
career the broad spirit of the greatest country in the world — the I'nited 
stairs of America. Such are the men who made this country what it is 
to-day, and when the heroic roll oi \ merican names is scanned in future 
ages the name of William McKinley will stand forth in letters of light 
with the proudest of t hem all. 

It is futile to endeavor to convey in words the sympathy which we all 
feel in common for his devoted wife. God grant her the strength to 
hear the burden of his loss, and may He console her in her agony at the 
loss of her husband and her all, for such he has ever been to her. 

When a mighty nation mourns for one of her sons, as this country now 
does, it is his proudesl epitaph. Life is fleeting, but through the dis- 
tant ages the Story of William McKinley's life and death will shine as a 
guiding star for the countless children of this great country, and the 
world is better that William McKinley did live. What a model for 
emulation. Think of his domestic life. While such men live nations 
thrive. He fought for his country and eventually died for it. 

1 can say no more, hut I feel as millions of my fellow-citizens do, and 
I know that the Lord in his infinite mercy and wisdom will reward one 
of the noblest men that ever trod His footstool. 

Alderman Robert A. Jordan said: 

Mr. ' 'hairman, We meet as representatives of the people of Boston, ami 
speaking for the people of Boston, we sympathize with the President's 
family to-day. and we sympathize with the whole nation. Our sorrow 
is part of a universal sorrow. Every civilized nation in the world 
laments this sail event. It is only proper that Boston should do some 
thing in the coming few days to show outwardly her sorrow, and I do 
not think it amiss at this time to surest that the business houses and 
homes of the citizens he properly draped with the insignia of mourning 
to shovt their sorrow and their sympathy. It seems to me that at the 
time set apart when the last sad rites are read over our beloved Presi- 
dent that the places of business in this city should he closed, and all 
places of amusement should he closed. There is no need of saying 
words of praise of William McKinley. He is beloved by all. From the 
time, when as ahoy, be went to the front to serve his Country his career 

has been a noble one. ll« \\as an able and an honest lawyer. During 
his career as a representative of the people, and as President, he has 
always held the respe. t and honor of everj citizen of this country. We 
sorrow to-daj to think that he should have been stricken down bj a 
foul murderer who was taking advantage of an opportunity when Mr. 
McKinley, with the full confidence oi the love of his fellow-citizens, 
held out his hand to him. The Citj oi Boston Mr. < hairmai . can only 
pay to tin- memory of William McKinley their whole respect, their 
utmost sympathy, and their entire love. 



William Mckinley. '.) 

Alderman John L. Kelly said : 

Mr. Chairman, — We are assembled for the purpose of taking solemn 
and appropriate action on the death of William McKinley, the Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

When the Executive Chief of our great nation is taken from us, by 
the dispensation of an infinite Providence, it is fitting that we should 
publicly express our appreciation of his services to the people, who 
loved and honored him. It is especially fitting when the character of 
the man in his domestic and social relations with his fellows, like that 
of William McKinley, lends additional lustre to his worth as a states- 
man and his loyalty as the representative of a sovereign people. 

The occasion on which we are mournfully met to-day, has, however, 
a sadness, a terror and regret, distinct from the grief which is the 
common accompaniment of the death of those we love. Whatever the 
sting of dissolution, when it follows upon the inevitable encroachments 
of disease, common to all mortality ; howsoever hard it may be to 
endure the decrees of the fate which ends our earthly efforts, there is 
usually the consolation that the calamity is universal in its nature, and 
we are accustomed to the form which the destroyer assumes for our 
undoing. But in the death of William McKinley we are trebly 
bereaved; we mourn the man, the husband, the kindly neighbor, the 
earnest and devoted citizen, the steadfast friend, the soul of honor in 
his relations with his fellow-men; we mourn as well the President, 
whose guiding brain and steadfast purpose were at the service of his 
nation in time of peace; who bared his breast to that nation's foes in 
time of war. But we also mourn that he should have been taken from 
us by the assassin's bullet, and we shrink in horror from the contem- 
plation of the fact that out of the midst of the people, whom he loved 
and served, there should have come a dastard instrument of anarchy to 
strike a parricidal blow at him, our chief, at us, whose representative 
he was. 

The resolutions were adopted by a unanimous rising vote. 

Alderman Philip O'Brien offered an order — That the City 
Clerk be directed to transmit an engrossed copy of the resolutions 
adopted by the City Council this day, to the bereaved widow of 
William McKinley, President of the United States. 

Passed. Sent down. 

Alderman Joseph J. Norton offered an order — That a dele- 
gation from the City Government, consisting of the Mayor, the 
Chairman of the Board of Aldermen, and the President of the 
Common Council, be appointed to attend the obsequies of the 
late President of the United States. 

Passed. Sent down. 



10 MEMOK1 \h OF 

Alderman Norton offered an cider — Thai the Mayor cause 
the City Hall, < >ld State House, and Faneuil Hall to be appropri- 
ately draped, the flags to be displayed at half-mast upon the 
public buildings and in the squares for a period of thirty days, 
and the bells of the city to be tolled during the hour sel apart for 
tin- funeral of the late President. The expenses to be charged 
td the appropriation for Reserve Fund. 

Passed. Sent down. 

On motion of Axdermak Norris the vote whereby the Board 
adjourned at the last meeting to meet on Monday. September 16, 
was rescinded, and the Board voted, on motion of Alderman 
Norris, as a mark of respecl to the memory of the late President, 
to meet on Monday, September 23, at 3 P.M., and all orders of 
notice for a prior date were postponed accordingly. 

Adjourned at 1 2.58 P.M. 



IN COMMON COUNCIL. 



The Common Council was called to order by the President, a 
quorum being present. The Clerk read the call for the meeting, 
as printed above, and it was placed on file. 

The Clerk read the message of His J Conor the Mayor, as printed 
abo\ e, and it was placed on tile. 

The following papers were received from the Board of Aldermen : 

(I.) Resolved. That the Citj Government learns with sorrow that 
William MiKinley. President "t tin- United States, is no longer among 

t he li\ ing. 

Resolvi 'I. That in .the death of President McKinley we have sustained 
an irreparable loss, deeply felt by our city, our country ami mankind. 

That we honor the public ami private virtues of the 
deceased, lus citizenship, his Americanism, his simplicity, ami his 
faith. 

Resolved, That the members of the City Government "f Boston, 
collectively and individually, offer to the family of the late President 
their full sympathy in this sorrowful day of affliction. 

The question came upon tin- passage of the resolutions. 



william Mckinley. 11 

Mr. Akthue W. Dolan of Ward 5 *:tid : 

Mr. President, — In the death of our beloved President I feel that we 
have suffered a loss which cannot be repaired. And when I say it is a loss 
which cannot be repaired, I do nut mean to intimate that he will no! be 
worthily and honorably succeeded in office; but rather to express the 
idea that the foulness of the deed will always live in the memory of his 
countrymen; that it will seem to pollute the atmosphere and to throw 
a pall over the greatest country in the world, which to-day is obliged to 
confess with shame and horror that it has within its limits a man who 
could commit such a cruel wrong. 

I feel that it is perhaps the most shocking presidential assassination 
ever perpetrated in this country, even more shocking than that of 
Lincoln or that of Garfield, because of the conditions surrounding it, 
and because of the absolute lack of reason which led to it. Lincoln 
was assassinated thirty-six years ago, assassinated at a time when blood 
was running high, when the North and the South had just ceased their 
conflict, but when the thirst for blood engendered by the Civil War had 
barely been quenched, and when the South was still fomenting. He 
was assassinated when the strife was just closed and when the feelings 
of men were high. Garfield was assassinated about twenty years ago, 
assassinated by a man who had a real or fancied grievance — a supposed 
unsuccessful office-seeker. But William McKinley was assassinated in the 
twentieth century, in the days of the greatest enlightenment and progress 
which this country has ever seen —done to death before the eyes of a 
civilized and cultured populace, not for any wrong of his doing, not for 
any wroDg that could be attributed to him, not for any act of his or of 
those associated with him, but simply to satisfy the thirst of a man who 
sought his blood because he had drunk in his inspiration at the fountain 
of carnage, the fountain of slaughter and anarchy as promulgated by a 
woman who believes in no order, no law, no government and no God. 
As I say, the assassination of President McKinley was the more horrible 
because it had not even the saving feature of personal hatred, but only 
that general hatred which extends, in the hearts of those men, to all 
things human and divine. 

The people cry out, not for vengeance, because we are not anarchists, 
but for retribution. The people cry out for protecting laws which shall 
silence the tongues of those men and of those women, who I trust are 
few, who seek to do nothing but to compass the death of all that is 
good, all that is noble and all that is true. We cry out with grief at 
the loss of our noble President, a man who, by his ability, by his stand- 
ing in office, and by his official acts, had taken rank among the foremost 
presidents of this country; a man who, by his own nature and his 
position, has taken rank as a nobleman and as one of nature's gentle- 
men; a man who, by his tender and unceasing devotion to an invalid 
wife, has endeared himself to the hearts of the populace and has given 
evidence of the tenderest feelings which man can have, of untiring 



12 MEMORIAL OF 

sacrifice, of noble nature anil of noble deeds, and lias endeared bimself, 
as I say, to those who to-day stand, millions of them, with their heads 
bowed down with grief, and with sobbing voices cry, " Thy will be 
done." 

Mb. IIenky M. "Wing of Ward 3 said : 

Mr. President, — The nation's grief is best expressed by silence. 
There are no words in which to express the sorrow that has fallen upon 
our republic. At lirst, our human limitations prevent any adequate 
realization of the tragedy that has overwhelmed our beloYed country 
and broken the heart of one of the noblest of women. But as we 
contemplate that dreadful calamity in solemn silence, little by little we 
shall come to realize better the full significance of the deed; our hearts 
will be chastened, and we shall bo better men and better citizens in the 
thoughtful contemplation of the sacrifice which, for the third time in 
our history, has been made by the nation's highest citizen, the President 
of the I'nited States. 

Mr. Donald N. MacDonald of Ward 12 said: 

Mr. President, — The tolling of the church bells and the display of 

the flags at half-mast have proclaimed throughout the land the sad 

news of the death of our beloved chief magistrate, William McKinley, 

casting the shadow of a national calamity over the whole country, 

touching every heart and bringing grief to every household. 

For the second time within the brief period of a year the City Council 
has assembled within this chamber to voice the personal sentiment of 
each of its members and the sentiment of the citizens of Boston in a 
final tribute of affection and high esteem of the noble character and life 
of one of America's most illustrious men. The death of William 
McKinley, like that of Roger Wolcott, is a sad blow to the city and to 
the Commonwealth, a personal loss to all so mournful that no words 
can adequately express the keen and heartfelt sorrow. What the State 
experienced in the loss of its ex-governor, the whole country experiences 
now in the death of its President. 

The sympathy of the world is to-day extended to the bereaved ones 
and to America and its people, the kindest words and thoughts are on 
every lip, the expression of sincere grief and veneration for the man, 
William McKinley. 

1 trust that the resolutions will be unanimously adopted. 

Mr. Thomas D. Roberts of Ward 22 said : 

Mr. President, —As has just been stated, the nation has once more 
been plunged into sorrow and grief by the dastardly hand and the cruel 
act of the assassin. Thai tired spirit that for the past week has lain on 



william Mckinley. 13 

that cot in the chamber at Buffalo, like a timid bird upon an open palm, 
has taken its flight. President McKinley has gone to his reward; and 
with him, I am sure, he carries the deepest sympathy and the highest 
regard of these great United States. Iu the loss of President McKinley, 
this nation has not only lost a Christian statesman, but a great and 
patriotic soldier, a loving and true husband, a devoted and cordial 
neighbor. I cannot but repeat what I said once before, when we were 
called together on an occasion when death had made itself felt in the 
ranks of this council, in reference to life. I was impressed more and 
more with that sentiment as I came up through the city to-day — as to 
life and its uncertainty. What is life ? Life is but the breath we 
breathe; and we have no surety of the second gale. How frail, how 
fickle a tenement it is, it is like a glass that is broken ere the sand runs 
out. This is true of the humblest citizen in this great republic, as it 
was true of William McKinley. We have no assurance of life, and we 
know not when the brittle thread will break. We are held by a very 
slender thread at the best; but what makes it still more uncertain is the 
laxity of the law, iu my opinion, which should control and govern such 
an act as that which has been perpetrated within the past few days upon 
the chief executive of this country. There should be not only national 
but state laws that would make impossible the repetition of such an 
act; and there should be a law that would exclude from the shores of 
this grand and noble country any man or any person who is tainted 
with such a principle as that which has been manifested on the part of 
this dastardly coward. The fault, it seems to me, lies, then, largely in 
the law. We have no law that is equal to this occasion, in the way of 
punishment. It is penalty that makes law. A law without a penalty 
is no law; aud the sooner our Legislature in this country passes a 
penalty that shall be adequate to a deed of this kind, as I have said 
before, and which shall make its repetition impossible, the better. If 
anything was to be gained, Mr. President, by such an act, perhaps we 
should willingly bow the head and be submissive to it. But there is 
nothing to be gained by this. When a brave patriot takes his life in 
his hands and goes on to the battlefield and bares his breast to the 
bullet because of principle, because of something which he believes 
should be achieved by the act, then he is ready to lay his life down in 
order that he may manifest his spirit. But I tell you, Mr. President, and 
gentlemen of this council, I have never known, nor have you, nor has 
the oldest citizen alive to-day, a more despicable deed than this, because 
of the futility of it, because there is nothing in it to be accomplished. 

I believe, Mr. President, that we should be like the worthy patriots of 
old, when stirred by act of an unfilial son like Absalom, when he 
rebelled against his father, the noble king of Israel, they showed their 
contempt for him, and to this day when a devout Jew passes the tomb 
of Absalom he casts a stone of contempt at the tomb. So should every 
loyal citizen of this country, regardless of the political faith which he 
may espouse, cast the stone of contempt at one and all who are tainted 



14 MEMORIAL OF 

with principles that will make, not only the life of the President of the 
United States insecure, but that of the humblest of this nation's 
citizens. 

ii i, n in s'ympathj which makes one feel another's burden as though 
it were liis own. My sympathy goes out for the wife of ourbi 
President. I do uot believe thai God ever made a man in a mould and 
then broke the mould so thai another should not be cast exactly like 
him. 1 believe William McKinley can be replaced perhaps satisfactorily 
in an executive waj ; but it will be hard to gel one like William 
MrKinli \ with all his virtues and all his attributes, a man as kind as he 
to the humblest of his fellow-citizens, a man who. to my mind, 
approached Him who was the greatest man thai ever lived, and who 

spake as ii mi ever spake, willing to stand as mediator for the 

assassin that hail stricken him down, and win said. "God forgive him ; 
ma> he not he hurt." .My sympathy goes out to that wife in her afflic- 
tion. We may not know now, but in coming years, perhaps in a bettei 
land, we maj read the meaning of those tears, and then we'll iindei 
stand. It may appear a mysterious condition of things to us, looking at 
il from a human standpoint, hut God knows best, and we leave it in His 
hands. 

Mr. Henry S. Fitzgerald of Ward 6 said : 

Mr. President, — It is with heartfelt sorrow that I rise Inn to-daj to 
my sincere grief and sorrow at the loss which the country has 

sustained in I lie death uf our President. It was my very great priv ilege 
to meet President McKinley in Washington on two or three different 
occasions. His kindly manner ami genial disposition endeared him to 
the American people. To his wife and family I extend my sincere sv m- 
pathy, and r trust that thev will bear up well under their great loss. 

We all join in the nation's loss. 

Mr. Oliver F. Davenport of Ward 20 said : 

Mr. President, — It is with the deepest sorrow. I believe, that we 
ble here to-day to mourn the loss of a leader and statesman; to 

mourn the loss of a man who was elected to lill the highest position in 

d. surely, words arc inadequate to properly express our deep 

hat such a murderous attack should he made upon the life of 
our chief executive. As I saw the ovation which the people gave to the 

Presidi i lie en ■ ■ lunds a week a daj afternoon, 

at the lair. I little thought that within forty-eight hours the man would 

be lying neai thi point ol death from the murderous assault of such a 
foul villain. The in. oi bi President I tich great value, he 

has been so idolized bj the people, has I. ecu held in such high respect, 
that ii seemed impossible that any human being, or even a crawling 
creature, could wish tor a moment to harm the man who was at the 



william Mckinley. 15 

head of the nation. And while we have assembled here to show our 
marks of deep respect and sorrow at such a lamentable event as that 
which has taken place, it is surely to be hoped that the peopleofhis 
inner official and private family' may be given strength and courage to 
bear up and to sustain the loss in which all the people share, joining 
them in sympathy and offering them their greatest respect and regard. 

Me, William B. Jackson of Ward 1 said : 

Mr. President, — As representatives of the City of Boston, we gather 
here to-day to express our sense of loss and our respect for the memory 
of our departed President, and to extend our condolence to his imme- 
diate family. As we go about the streets and see the flag which he so 
nobly fought for, lowered at half-mast, that flag of glorious stars and 
stripes, which never yet has been lowered in defeat or sullied by dis- 
honor, we realize that to-day it is lowered at the inexorable hand of 
death. But when the sunshine shall have dispelled the gloom and sor- 
row, that flag will again be raised over this country, shining with a 
brighter light because William McKinley lived and because William 
McKinley died. And that llag will strike terror to lawlessness and 
anarchy. Words are but feeble to express the sympathy which we feel 
for the dead President's family. Yet that is all we can do in the face 
of such a calamity as has fallen upon us. 

Mr. William II. Nitz of Ward 22 said : 

Mr. President, — It is with profound sorrow and in the shadow of a 
deep gloom we are assembled here to express the sympathy of the 
people of our district, city, state and country at the untimely death of 
our universally beloved President of this great nation of ours at the 
hands of a cowardly assassin. 

Major William McKinley as president of the United States has 
endeared himself to his people, and throughout the wide world sorrow 
is sincerely manifested. 

We have suffered an irreparable loss, and may the Almighty give 
strength to the bereaved wife and relatives and may He also guide this 
Nation of ours through this great affliction which has befallen upon it. 

Mr. John E. L. Mokaghan of Ward 13 said: 

Mr. President, — Ward 13, which gave to our President's support at t li is 
last election the largest Republican vote cast in the history of the ward, 
to-day is draped in a shroud of mourning. From the time that the news 
first reached our city of this unfortunate occurrence at Buffalo, the 
people of Ward 13 have prayed fervently for the recovery of our chief 
magistrate. And when we learned this morning that another great 
name was added to the roll of our martyed presidents, political differ- 



10 MEMORIAL OF 

ences were abolished, and our ward was plunged in gloom. The people 
of Ward 13 wish to record their horror and contempt tor the act of tin- 
anarchist who plunged a bullet into the body of the nation's chief 
executive and brought ahout his sorrowful and untimely end. We 
extend our sincere sympathy to the beloved wife in this hour of 
anguish. The people of Ward 13 recall with reverence the last and 
dying words of our president, so Christian-like, so noble, so replete 
with resignation and faith in the Almighty : "Good by, all ; good by. 
It is God'B way. His will he done.'' May his soul rest in eternal 
peace. 

Mr. Andrew L. O'Toole of Ward 13 said : 

Mr. President, — To-day the nation mourns the hiss of President 
Mck'inley. Grief has entered into the house of every citizen in this land 
of ours. A just and upright ruler, an honored and patriotic citizen, has 
been removed from his post of duty by the bullet of an anarchistic 
assassin. As we look back on the life of President McKinley, we must 
note with a great deal of pride the great love'he had for his country when, 
as a youth of eighteeen summers, he volunteered his services and went 
to the front in defence of the nation. His war record was a great and 
glorious one. Returning, he entered upon civil and political life. His 
neighbors returned him time after time to Congress, and the people of 
the great state of Ohio honored him by selecting him as their governor. 
In all his political career he was marked by honest conviction and a 
sincere purpose to do the best that was in him. 

He had exercised the principle of absolute and incorruptible honesty 
in all his dealings. But his greatest honor was still before him, when 
the Republicans selected him as their candidate for the office of Presi- 
dent of the United States, and he was elected by an overwhelming 
majority. His administration was a hard and trying one. The war 
strain came upon the old ship of state, in the summer of 1898. Some of 
us may have differed with President McKinley on his colonial policy, 
and on other questions, but to-day all criticism is hushed, and we 
gather around. Democrats and Republicans, Protestant and Catholic, 
Jew and Gentile, and offer up our prayers to the throne of the Eternal 
Ruler (jf all Nations and pray Him that in His infinite goodness lie may 
admit our beloved president into that realm of eternal peace and ever- 
lasting happiness where wars and tribulations are no more. We also 
pray Him to guide and direct the footsteps of our new President Roose- 
velt along the paths of righteousness and honor, peace and happiness so 
well marked out by his honored predecessor, that our eouutrj ma) 
advance to prosperity. 

President Daniel J. Kilei said: 

The chief executive of our great country, William McKinley, 
twenty fourth President of the United States, and the third to 



william Mckinley. 17 

fall by the hand of an assassin is dead. The nation is called upon 
to mourn his loss. The City of Boston, ever patriotic, and ever 
loyal to the cause of liberty a,nd to those who serve her inter- 
ests, is called upon, through their representatives here in the 
Common Council, to testify their loyalty, their fidelity, their sympathy 
and their sorrow to him who has just departed. Born in 1S43, we know 
of him only as a school-boy until 1861. When but eighteen years of age 
he first started out to do his share toward protecting, defending and 
maintaining the honor of the country, to which he has sacrilied tho 
most valuable years of his life. As a soldier, as a congressman, as 
a governor, as a president, he has given to this country a shining 
example of his honorable deeds and heroic acts. As a loving husband, 
and as a devoted lover of his household, we know of no man in public 
life in recent years who has been a more shining or better example of 
the most elevated American citizenship. Sad, indeed, it is that we 
should be called upon to meet here to-day to pass our resolutions of 
sympathy for him. He was loved by all of the American people, regard- 
less of party, and regardless of politics. The character of the man was 
displayed most forcibly in the few words uttered by him a few moments 
after the murderous bullet struck his body. Still shocked by the 
event of that day, his noble disposition went out to the man who had 
committed that most cowardly assault. 

The City of Boston mourns his loss, the people of the Common 
wealth of Massachusetts mourns his loss, and our hearts go out in 
deepest sympathy to the wife he has left behind. It was his last desire 
that the comfort of his friends should be given to her, whom he left an 
invalid. It was my proud privilege to meet both husband and wife 
upon the occasion of the presentation of colors to the 6th Kegiment 
before its departure from this country to Manila. Upon that occasion 
I had an opportunity to see into the character of the womau who has 
been the helpmate and the wife of our most beloved President. Let us 
give her our deepest sympathy and our heartfelt condolence at this 
time. 

The resolutions were passed in concurrence by a unanimous 
rising vote. 

(2) Ordered, That a delegation from the City Government, consist- 
ing of the Mayor, the Chairman of the Board of Aldermen and the 
President of the Common Council, be appointed to attend the obse- 
quies of the late President of the United States. 

Passed in concurrence. 

(3) Ordered, That the Mayor cause the City Hall, Old State House 
and Fanenil Hall to be appropriately draped, the flags to be displayed 
at half-mast upon the public buildings and in the squares for a period 



18 MEMORIAL OF WILLIAM McKLNLET. 

of thirty days, and the bells of the city to be tolled during the hour set 
apart Eoi the Euneral of the late President. The expense to be 
charged to the appropriation for Reserve Fund. 

Passed in concurrence. 

(4) Ordered, That the City Clerk !>•> directed to transmit an en- 
grossed copy of the resolutions adopted by the Citj Council this day 
to the bereaved widow of William McKinley, late President of the 
United states. 

Passed in concurrence. 

Mr. Frank W.Thayer of Ward 20 offered an order: That 

as a further maris of respect to i lie mei v <>f the late President 

of the United states, the Common Council '1" now adjourn. 

Passed. 

Adjourned at 1.40 P.M. 



MEMORIAL EXERCISES 




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COMMIT^ oTlM c KlNLE Y MEMORIAL 




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COMMITTEE ON MEMORIAL EXERCISES. 



Aldermen. 



James H. Doyle, Chairman. 
Joseph I. Stewart. Philip O'Brien. 

E. Peabody Gerry. John L. Kelly. 

Councilmen. 

Daniel J. Kiley. March G. Bennett. 

William L. White. William M. Curtis. 

Joseph F. Carter. George McKee. 

Patrick J. Shiels. Frank W. Thayer. 



MEMORIAL EXERCISES. 



The committee appointed to arrange for the Memorial 
Exercises fixed upon Tuesday evening, November 26, 1901, 
as the date, and Faneuil Hall as the place. 

Hon. John L. Bates, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachu- 
setts, was selected to deliver the eulogy, and the Rev. Joseph 
H. Rockwell, S.J., of Boston College, was selected to open 
and close the exercises with a prayer and benediction. 

The Apollo Club, a representative musical organization, 
having volunteered their services, furnished the musical part 
of the programme, in conjunction with the Boston Festival 
Orchestra, conducted by Mr. Emil Mollenhauer. 

Official invitations were extended to His Excellency the 
Governor and the members of his staff, the Executive Coun- 
cil, the Judges of the various courts, the past Mayors of the 
City of Boston and the members of the City Council and 
heads of departments. 

Illness having prevented the attendance of Mayor Hart, 
the Chairman of the Board of Aldermen, James H. Doyle, as 
Acting Mayor, presided over the exercises, which were opened 
at eight o'clock with an overture, " Egmont " (Beethoven), 
by the orchestra. 

The Apollo Club then sang " Integer Vitas," by Fleming, 
words by Charles J. Sprague, as follows : 

Lord, now the hero's mortal wars are ended, 
Where, in the conflict, 'twas Thy power defended, 
Thy shield that guarded and Thy hand rewarded. 
Conqu'ror, his cause was Thine. 



24 MEMORIAL OF 

Man judges man, the crown or chain disposing, 
Groping in earthly shadows round him closing. 
Lofty endeavor, truth to cull from error ; 
But judgment, Lord, is Thine. 

Oh, may his spirit, now Thy peace possessing, 
Dwell in the joy of Thy eternal blessing 
In Heaven, all glorious: crowned by Thee victorious. 
Safe in Thy love divine ! 



PRAYER. 

Prayer was then offered by the Rev. Joseph H. Rockwell, 
S. J., as follows : 

Before you unite with me in prayer for our people 
and for our country's welfare, I wish to say a word 
of introduction. One hundred years ago, in the year 
18U0, a prayer for the church and state authorities 
ascended to heaven from tlie lips of the patriot Arch- 
bishop of Baltimore, John Carroll. 

That prayer went up to heaven from the altar.- of 
the colonies in the year 1800, and every year since 
its echo has been heard through the land, as the people 
have knelt before the altar of God praying for the 
shepherds of the ehui'eh and for the rulers id' the state. 
1 feel that it will be particularly lifting to use a por- 
tion of that prayer as a conclusion to my petition 
this evening, both on account of the appropriateness 
of the prayer ami on account of the character and 
position id' hint who composed it. John Carroll, as 
Mm know, was the first Bishop of the I nited States. 



william Mckinley. 25 

he was an ardent patriot, the intimate friend of Ben- 
jamin Franklin, the schoolmate and cousin of Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, the signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. 

With this introduction, may I ask you to join with 
me in offering to God the message of our trust in 
Him, and the petition for His sustained protection. 

We beseech Thee, loving Father, God of light, God 
of love, God of strength, look down with mercy upon 
this thy people. As little children, in our various 
griefs we come to Thee for comfort and supj)ort. We 
are Thy children, Thou art always our Father. Thou 
hast fashioned us, and we are thine. In our sorrows 
and doubts and necessities we turn to Thee, for we 
are weak, Thou art strong. Even though the emotions 
which agitate men's hearts be as fierce as a tempest, 
yet there is one whose voice the storms obey. Thou 
art He, who hast built the fabric of the universe : 
the waters and the lands are Thy handiwork. Thou 
art the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. 
From Thee we have come, to Thee we shall return, 
in Thee we shall repose on the calm sea of Thy 
love. 

Come then, to thy people, and heal the heai't-wound 
which the nation has received. Lawful authority is 
the very heart of a nation. The minister of Thy 
authority, God, has been stricken down by an evil 
hand. Thou hast uttered this word by Thy Apostle 
Paul : " Let every soul be subject to higher powers ; 



26 MEMORIAL OF 

for there is oo power bul from God; and those that 
are, are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth 
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God — Fur he 

is God's minister to thee for good." (Rom. xiii. 1.) 
Our President, the minister, lias been slain, our 
nation has been wounded. Thou God, hasl I >« •. -i i 
insulted, for all lawful authority is from Thee. 

So, in our threefold grief, for the outrage to our 
President, the injury to our nation, and the insult 
to Thee, we come to Thee, dear Father. We grieve 
and mourn for what has been done, we fear and 
tremble for our future safety, for evil stalk- abroad 
in the night and menaces us. Men have wandered 
from the right way into darkness and error. 

While our heads are bowed with grief, and our 
faces are pale with fear, we come to Thee, and we 
praj Thee that all our nation may turn to Thee and 
know Thee better, for there is no safety lor men, 
hut in Thee. 

Thou art the way, only by following Thee in re- 
ligion and godliness can nations go forth in honor, 
integrity and true glory. 

Thou art the truth, and only from the precepts of 
Thy lips can men learn the \\a\ of national honor 
and justice. 

Thou art the life, and only by obedience to Thy 
laws can nations live a peaceful life. 

We pray Thee above all to make of this people a 
godly nation, by a living faith and unwavering hope 



William Mckinley* 27 

in Thee, to teach us all the true ways of godliness 
in obedience and justice, and uprightness. 

We beseech Thee, Lord to solace and comfort 
the heart of her who was nearest to our departed 
President, to give her peace of heart, in the hope 
of a blessed immortality. We also beseech Thee to 
strengthen and stimulate to noble deeds those who 
grieve most in his loss, those who have known him 
and loved him as a friend. 

We pray Thee, God of might, wisdom and 
justice, through whom authority is rightly adminis- 
tered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist 
with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the 
President of these United States, that his adminis- 
tration may be conducted in righteousness, and be 
eminently useful to Thy people, over whom he pre- 
sides, by encouraging due respect for virtue and 
religion, by a faithful execution of the laws in 
justice and mercy, and by restraining vice and 
immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom 
direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth 
in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule 
and government ; so that they may tend to the 
preservation of peace, the promotion of national 
happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety and 
useful knowledge, and may perpetuate to us the 
blessings of equal liberty. 

We pray for his Excellency, the Governor of this 
State, for the members of the Assembly, for all 



28 MEMORIAL OF 

Judges and Magistrates, for the Mayor of our city 
and for all the officers who are appointed to guard 
our political welfare; that they may he enahled by 
Thy powerful protection, to discharge the duties 
of their respective stations with honesty and abil- 
ity. 

We recommend likewise to Thy unbounded mercy 
all our fellow-citizens, throughout the United States, 
that they may be blessed in the knowledge, and 
sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; 
that they may be preserved in union, and in that 
peace which the world cannot give, and after enjoy- 
ing the blessings of this life, be admitted to those 
which are eternal in a place of refreshment, light 
and everlasting peace. 

The Apollo Club then sang "The Long Day Closes" 
(Sullivan), as follows : 

I\* 1 1 star is o'er the lake 

Its pale watch keeping ; 
The moon is half awake, 

Through gray mist creeping ; 
The last red leaves fall round 

The porch of roses ; 
The clock hath ceased to sound: 

The long day closes. 

Sit by the silent hearth, 

In calm endeavor 
To count the sounds of mirth, 

Now dumb forever. 



william Mckinley. 29 

Heed not how hope believes, 

And fate disposes ; 
Shadow is round the eaves : 

The long day closes. 

The lighted windows dim 

Are fading slowly ; 
The fire that was so trim 

Now quivers lowly. 
Go to the dreamless bed 

Where grief reposes ; 
The book of toil is read : 

The long day closes. 

Acting Mayor Doyle then introduced Lieutenant-Governor 
John L. Bates who delivered the following eulogy : 



EULOGY 



JOHN L. BATES 



EULOGY. 



Mr. Chairman, Fdlow-Citizens : 

To this hall the people of Boston have come when 
deeply moved. Here have they paid loving tribute 
to the memory of large souls. On the 6th of Sep- 
tember last a pistol shot, fired in Buffalo, stirred the 
world. On the 14th of September, as the result of 
that shot, William McKinley died. Boston loved him, 
and to-night, by the official action of her City Gov- 
ernment, she devotes the hour to the contemplation 
of his services and his virtues. 

There are two classes of anarchists. Both teach 
that all government is bad, and that individuals need 
but to be freed from all restraint to enter upon better 
conditions of life. One class would accomplish its 
end solely through peaceful methods ; it believes in 
non-resistance. The other would accomplish its ends 
by force; it would strike and slay until the whole 
world is revolutionized and the institutions of men 
entirely changed. To become a believer in this class 
one must first descend to a lower level than that of 
the brute creation. He must become insensible to 



34 MEMORIAL [OF 

ties of family and of kindred, to ties of society and 
of country. lie must become an enemy of bis race 
and of his God. Such an one there was at the Ex- 
position at Buffalo on the (Jtb of September. 

We have been too tolerant. We bad bad warnings. 
We had seen the representatives of the law cruelly 
murdered in the Haymarket riots in Chicago. We 
had learned bow in our land the plot had been made, 
and bow from our shores the murderer had sailed. 
to assassinate the King of Italy. These things had 
aroused us, but we had not dealt with the evil. We 
had not purged the land. Soon we slept again. 

What has not our country done for mankind ? 
Who can hope for his brother, except through its 
preservation? Who of the unfortunate and op- 
pressed, but look to it for help? When America 
was born, what great nation was there where men 
governed themselves? In what country were the 
rights of men secure? In what country were the 
people housed and fed, and their children educated? 
None. There was ignorance, superstition, degrada- 
tion, poverty, and want everywhere. All this has 
been changed. The conditions of liberty, which have 
followed in the wake of America, have been fruitful 
of whatever has added to the comfort of the human 
race. The era of invention did not come until after 
the era of political liberty. A hundred Years ago 

men were content to plough with the same device 
that they had used lor six thousand years. The 



william Mckinley. 35 

horse, or the ox, was the locomotive; the stage was 
the parlor car ; the tallow candle was the electric 
light ; the wind-mill and water wheel, the only engines 
of power. But where this terrible deed was done, 
all that the assassin saw on every hand indicated 
the prosperity, the comfort of men. The Exposition 
pictured the fraternal brotherhood of America, and 
its ten thousand exhibits revealed the comforts ami 
the pleasures now enjoyed by all, but not permitted 
to kings in former times. All about were the re- 
volving wheel, the hoarse breathing of the engine, 
and the myriad revolutions of the motor, showing 
that the burden that had rested forever in the past 
upon the back of man was being placed upon the 
back, whose bones are iron, and whose sinews are 
steel. Every invention, every product of tropical 
and of temperate zone, every article of manufacture, 
every statue, showed how the freedom of America 
was contributing to the uplifting of the human race. 
Yet, amid those surroundings, where joy was in 
every man's heart, save one, and as the great Presi- 
dent was kindly extending his hand in greeting, the 
dastardly crime — most cowardly, most unprovoked, 
most senseless — was done. 

America must not forget this lesson ; there must 
be no repetition of this event. Devotion to free 
speech, and to jiolitical liberty must not be made a 
cloak for riot, rapine, and murder. Human beasts, 
seeking to prey upon mankind, and all its institu- 



36 MEMORIAL OF 

t ions, must not be permitted to (Miter here, or here 
to spread their treasonable doctrines. 

" Wide open and unguarded stand our gates. 
And through them presses a wild motley throng — 
Men from the Volga, and the Tartar steppes, 
Featureless figures of the Hoang-Ho, 

Malayan. Scythian, Teuton, Kelt and Slav. 

Flying the Old World's poverty and scorn : 

These bringing with them unknown gods and rites. 

Those tiger passions, here to stretch their claws. 

(), Liberty, White Goddess! is it well 

To leave thy gate unguarded ! On thy breast 

Fold sorrow's children, soothe the hurts of fate, 

Lift the down-trodden, but with hand of steel 

Stay those who to thy sacred portals come 

To waste the gifts of freedom.'" 

Ours is a land in which have teen erected do 
artificial barriers of class or lineage. We judge a 
man not by his ancestry, but the ancestry by the 
man. .lames MoKinlov, when twelve years old, in 
the early part of the last century, came with his 
relatives to America, ami settled in Pennsylvania, 
and his son, in the fourth generation, was William 
McKinley, the President. James, the immigrant, 
came from the North of Ireland, ami his ancestors 
from l he Highlands of Scotland. The line is more 
in- less distinctly traced hack to Duncan Macduff, 

the Earl of Fife, who was born aboul tin' year 
one thousand, and who was a patriot, a foe to 
tyrants, and ihe slayer of the usurper, Macbeth. 



william Mckinley. 37 

The mother of the President was of both English 
and German descent. Bnt for several generations, 
the President's ancestors had had the environment 
of this new world, and he was neither Scotch, nor 
Irish, nor English, nor German. He was an Amer- 
ican. A member of a new race, a race built on all 
the old, and strongly characterized by the persist- 
ence in it of those best qualities that have dis- 
tinguished the various races from which it has 
come. 

William McKinley was born in the town of Niles, 
in the State of Ohio, on the 29th day of January, 
1843. His father and grandfather were iron founders. 
His mother was a farmer's daughter, and he was 
the seventh child in the family. His boyhood was 
spent in Niles, and in the not distant town of Poland, 
to which place his parents removed that their chil- 
dren might have better opportunities for education. 
There are several persons still living in Poland, who 
remember the President as a boy, and tell us he was 
a " black-haired, grave-faced, robust and manly little 
chap," who was fond of boyish sports, and also fond 
of his studies. His surroundings and advantages 
were that of the average American boy of his time. 
His father found it no easy matter, yet he succeeded 
in providing for the large family. He was a devout 
and patriotic man. His mother was a woman of great 
ability, devoted to her children, sanguine and cheer- 
ful in temperament. One who knew her well in 



38 MEMORIAL OF 

after years said that her pride seemed to be nol so 

much in the fact that her boy was President, as in 
the tact that lie was a man of integrity and honor. 
Americans owe much to the comparatively unknown 
parents of their heroes, whose self-sacrifice and 
faithful training has made possible the illustrious 
careers which have honored the nation. McKinley's 
father lived to see his hoy Governor of Ohio. His 
mother lived to see him President of the United 
States. They bequeathed him no fortune, but that 
which was better, the memory of lives without re- 
proach. Had he not been h sst, straight-forward, 

persevering, and of rugged integrity, he would nol 
have been like them, for they were all of these, 
and by precept and example they taught their chil- 
dren industry, self-reliance, honor, patriotism, and 
religion. 

The President was educated in the public schools 
of Niles and Poland, ami in the Poland A.cademy. 
At sixteen years of age lie entered the Junior class 
of Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. 
His health failed him. and he found it necessary to 
leave. It seems to have been his plan to regain his 
health, and. at the same time, by teaching school, earn 
the money with which to complete his college educa- 
tion. 

But great events were transpiring. (Inns were 
fired at Fori Sumpter, and the plans of a million 
young men were shattered. McKinley's plans went 



william Mckinley. 39 

with the rest. Before the echos of the bronze- 
mouthed heralds of treason, at Charleston, had ceased 
their reverberations, the young American manhood of 
the North was stripping for the fight. A century 
before, David McKinley, great grandfather of the 
President, had shouldered a musket, and for two 
years served in the American Army, when the 
Colonists were breaking the yoke of the mother 
country. The record of his career is brief, but elo- 
quent, for it reveals the fact that he enlisted eight 
times. Andrew Rose, Jr., was the President's great 
grandfather, on his mother's side. He was a descend- 
ant of those who had come to America for Liberty. 
He fought on many a battlefield in the Revolution, 
and when not fighting was employing his talents and 
genius in the manufacture of cannon and ball for 
the Continental Army. A generation later James 
McKinley, grandfather of the President, was in arms 
against Old England, in the War of 1812, and a 
brave participant in that struggle. With these facts 
in mind we are not surprised to learn that in the 
Old Sparrow House, at Poland, when the impassioned 
orator on one day in June, 1801, pointed to the flag, 
and asked, who was there who would defend it, 
William McKinley, grandson of James, who fought 
under William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe, great 
grandson of David, who was wounded in the Revo- 
lution, great grandson of Rose, who fought in the 
battle of Monmouth — William McKinley, descendant 



40 MEMORIAL OF 

of the Puritan who fled from England for conscience 
sake, descendant of the old Covenanter, who cared for 
neither " King nor Devil" — William McKinley was of 
those who stepped forward modestly, and said he was 
•• ready." 

It was a musket, and not a sword, with which he 
drilled on Poland Given. Eighteen years of age, slim 
in figure, thoughtful and serious, with a light graj 
eye kindling into expression with kindliness and 
determination, he joined in the greatest struggle, the 
most costly, the most terrible, and the most momen- 
tous to be found in the pages of history. Its horrors 
and its carnage were fitting obsequies for the burial 
of slavery; its terrific contests fitting accompani- 
ment of the new birth of a great nation. General 
Fremont, who mustered in the recruits, remarked, as 
he looked at McKinley, " You'll do." These words 
were prophetic. He of whom they were spoken 
proved them true in every duty of life. 

The Twenty-third Ohio was a famous regiment. 
It was the first of the Ohio regiments to enlist for 
three years. It had among its officers those who subse- 
quently acquired great distinction — Judge Mathews. 
President Hayes, General Kosecrans — but the pri- 
vate in Company E was destined to outrank them 
all in fame. Of the million men who served in the 
Union Army, he was to be the first if not the only 
private to occupy afterward the position of President 
of the United States. He did not seek an officer's 



william Mckinley. 41 

commission. He obeyed orders, and, for fourteen 
months, carried a musket. When the 19th of Septem- 
ber, 1862, came, and Antietam was written on his- 
tory's page in letters of blood, promotion came to him 
for conspicuous bravery, and later, in 1864, when a 
regiment had been saved to the Union Army through 
his signal courage, he was made a Captain. On the 
13th of March, 1865, he received from President 
Lincoln a commission, brevetting him a Major, " for 
gallant and meritorious service at the battles of 
Opequan, Cedar Creek and Fisher Hill." 

When the war was over, McKinley, twenty-one years 
of age, had neither trade nor profession. Precious 
years that other young men had been spending on 
their education in college, he had given to his country 
in the school of arms. As the result of his military 
record, the opportunity for a life of comparative ease 
in the regular army seemed open to him, but it was 
not attractive, and he returned to his home and began 
the study of law. To it he devoted his best energies, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1867. 

Poland, with its 400 inhabitants, furnished no field 
for an ambitious young lawyer. Canton was not far 
away. It was the home of the sister who had aided 
him much in his preparation for his profession, and 
had 5,000 inhabitants. There business and trade 
thrived. McKinley went to Canton, and there, be- 
loved by all its citizens, he made his home to the 
time of his death. It was not lonu- before he was 



42 MEMORIAL OF 

recognized as a conservative counsellor, an able and 
successful advocate. 

"You are the only man I have ever known to 
whom I would entrust my daughter," said James 
Saxton, when William McKinley revealed to him his 
heart. Thai was thirty years ago. Saxton made no 
mistake; neither did McKinley. "It was the besl 
suit that I ever won," he afterwards declared. [da 
Saxton had been the belle of Canton. Beautiful in 
person, educated in schools at home and by travelling 
abroad, trained to business methods as cashier in her 
father's hank, she was fitted to grace the home at 
Canton and the White House. The courtship of this 
couple did nut end with marriage, but continued 
through the years of McKinley's busy life. Her 
health had been impaired by the bereavement that 
came upon her in the loss of her little ones, but this 
fact only gave opportunity for the more Erequent 
revelation of the husband's tender solicitude and love. 
No duty of state ever caused him to neglect his duty 
to her. The nation cannot Eorget his example when, 
abandoning the journey of triumph in the West, he 
turned a deaf ear to the cheers of the people that 
he might watch by her bedside, ami it was for her 
that bis lirst can' was manifested when, stricken 
down at, Buffalo, he said to his secretary, " Be 

careful how you tell Mrs. McKinley." 

His affection for his mother was equally noticeable 

In the day of he)- death, and the people of Canton 



WILLIAM MoKINLEY. 43 

found yet another reason for honoring the son when they 
observed that, while the. Governor of Ohio, it was his 
custom to leave the Capitol of the State every Sunday 
and visit Canton that he might accompany her to 
church. 

It is quite evident that, although participating in 
public affairs from the beginning, he did not select 
bis place of residence with the view of entering pub- 
lic life, for the city and the county were strongly 
Democratic. Yet, within two years, the Republicans 
nominated him for District Attorney, although with no 
expectation of his election. The soldier-lawyer, how- 
ever, entered into a vigorous contest with his political 
opponent, was elected, and for the term of two years 
discharged the duties of the office in a manner that 
gave satisfaction to all the law-abiding citizens of the 
county and added to his reputation as a lawyer. He 
was renominated, but his political enemies were alert, 
and this time they succeeded in compassing his defeat. 
He had made a creditable showing, however, and was 
content for five years to devote himself to his law 
office, in the meantime participating much in political 
discussions. In 1876, after an active canvas, he was 
nominated for Congress. The district was regarded as 
a close one, but he defeated the Democratic candidate, 
winning by a majority of over three thousand votes. 
It was in this year that President Hayes was elected, 
and when McKinley, at the age of thirty-four, one of 
the youngest men in Congress, went to Washington to 



44 MEMORIAL OF 

begin his legislative career, lie found in the White 
House as President the one on whose staff he had 
served in the war. The mutual feeling of respect and 
love formed amid the tempest of battle had never 
diminished. With only a slight break, when he was 
unseated on a recount, McKinley was an active member 
of Congress from 1877 to 1800. 

His fame as a protectionist tended to give the im- 
pression thai his activities were confined to that sub- 
ject, hut the most hasty survey uf his work in Congress 
shows the contrary. During the uncomfortable days 
of the Hayes administration, when the North and 
South were still far from friendly, he was one of 
the advocates for the protection of the ballot at any 
cost, urging that the law for supervisors at national 
elections could have no terror save for the law- 
breakers. 

His experience had made him the warm friend of 
the soldier. lie was ready for his defence when 
attacked, and efficieni in securing legislation for his 
assistance. He argued that the bounty of the govern- 
nient was due to the soldier, and the obligation upon 
the country great to provide for him. 

lie was among the stanchesl supporters of Speaker 
Reed in his famous ruling on the question of a quorum, 
a question not without importance, and one whose 
decisional that time hail far-reaching and beneficent 
results. He believed that when a constitutional major- 
ity was present in the House it should be counted as 



william Mckinley. 45 

present for the purpose of making a quorum, whether 
or not those present responded to their names when 
the roll was called. He was unwilling that the fic- 
tion should longer continue that members who were 
actually present in their seats should be constructively 
declared absent. 

He defended the Civil Service laws, and did not 
give his assent merely that he might be in harmony 
with the platform of his party. With him it was a 
matter of his country's welfare. When the law was 
attacked he declared that the Republican party must 
take no backward step, and called upon it to correct 
defects if any existed, and to recognize that the 
merit system had come to stay. 

He was a warm friend of laboring men, was thor- 
oughly familiar with their history, knew their hours of 
labor in every industry, and their advantage or disad- 
vantage as compared with the laborers of other lands. 
He believed in the arbitration of disputes between 
labor and capital, and did what he could to promote 
it, asserting that the principle was in accord with 
the best thought and sentiment of mankind, and 
urging it in the interest of peace, good order, justice 
and fair play. He advocated the eight-hour law, 
because he believed it would "improve the stamina of 
the people," and he called on Congress to take favor- 
able action thereon as an example to the states of 
the Union. His addresses to workingmen were full, 
not of the superficial politic statements of the dema- 



4G MEMORIAL OF 

gogue, but of earnest patriotism, setting forth the 
dignity of labor and the privileges of citizenship. 
"Workingmen of Chicago," said lie "have confidence 
in the strength of our tree institutions and believe in 
the justice of your fellow-citizens." 

But it was his study of tariff laws and industries 
thai more than all else caused his political advance- 
ment. He recognized that valuable service could 
he rendered only by those who had superior knowledge 
of the matter upon which they would give advice. 
lie aspired to he thorough master of a few things. 
rather than to lie possessed of a, -'whole arsenal of 
half-mastered and half-matured things." 

He lived in a manufacturing city, and had been 
a keen observer. The first time he addressed the 
House of Representatives he presented a petition 
from the iron manufacturers of his district, and 
his first speech on the tariff, on April 15, 1878, 
had the attention of the House. Mr. Blaine, in his 
'•Twenty Years in Congress," says that he "was 
soon recognized as one of the most thorough stat- 
isticians, and one of the ablesl defenders of the 
doctrine of protection." Presidenl Harrison, in the 
tariff campaign of 1888, declared in reference to him, 
that -'no man more than he is familiar with the 
questions that now engage public thought; no 
man is more aide than he lucidly to >et them before 

the people." Through the influence of General I lar- 

field he was placed on the Committee on Ways 



william Mckinley. 47 

and Means, and Judge Kelley, the sturdy advocate 
of protection, saw in him a fitting successor, and ex- 
pressed the hope that when he himself was no longer 
chairman he might be succeeded by McKinley ; and 
so, in 1889, realizing that his own enfeebled condi- 
tion rendered him less fit to bear the brunt of the 
battle, he gladly yielded the position, knowing that 
Speaker Reed, not only because of merit, but also in 
accordance with custom, would appoint McKinley to 
the important place, as the one who had been his 
foremost rival for the speakership. Hamilton and 
Clay had advocated protection as the policy best for 
the times. McKinley advocated it as the best for 
all times. He made it a foremost issue before the 
country. No tariff bill was discussed during the 
fourteen years of his congressional life that he did not 
oppose or champion. He had no faith in legislation 
that did not deal with each interest separately on its 
merits ; hence to him an attempt at a horizontal 
reduction was "the invention of indolence." His 
whole tariff platform was summed up in the 
words : " The opposition favors a tariff for rev- 
enue, with incidental protection, but I prefer a 
tariff for protection with incidental revenue." The 
so-called McKinley bill of 1890, reported by him as 
Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, was 
framed on this basis. It had the opposition of such 
giants of the legislative forum as Carlisle and Mills, 
but McKinley was triumphant. The amendment pro- 



48 MEMORIAL OF 

viding for reciprocity, of which Blaine was the author, 
had the hearty support of McKinley, and foreshadowed 

his attitude on thai subject as so strikingly expressed 
the day before the attempt upon his life, in his address 
at Buffalo. This bill became a law, and its enactment 
caused rapid changes in political conditions throughout 
the country. 

McKinley's triumph seemed of short duration. His 
protection views had made enemies as well as friends. 
His district had been changed in such a manner as 
1o make his re-election to Congress a seeming im- 
possibility. Yet, he was defeated by only three hun- 
dred votes. His enemies were jubilant, but his party 
recognized that he had shown great strength under 
adverse circumstances, and it nominated him for 
Governor of the State of Ohio, ami he was elected. 
His term of office was marked by wise endeavor to 
secure an economical and honest administration ol 
the public service. Particular interest was shown by 
him in the management of the public institutions. 
Through his recommendation the State Board ol 
Arbitration was established. His personal efforts 
accomplished much for the relief of the miners suffer- 
ing from want in the Hocking Valley. Be appointed 
practical men as heads of the great department.-, was 
firm against the gerrymandering of the State for 
political purposes, and promptly ordered out the 
militia for the protection of a prisoner threatened l>\ 
an excited mob uf lynchers. 



WILLIAM McKINLET. 49 

His honorable conduct under the trying circum- 
stances attending financial reverses raised him to a 
still higher place in the public favor and, together 
with his efficient administration, resulted in his re- 
election by the largest majority ever given to a 
candidate in Ohio. 

A wider field for bis activities Avas opening. The 
repeal of the McKinley high tariff, followed by the 
enactment of the Wilson low tariff bill, had not had 
the effect anticipated by those who advocated the 
change. The country had not become more prosper- 
ous, but, on the contrary, was suffering from great 
depression in business. There were armies of unem- 
ployed, factories were closed, trade was slack, des- 
titution and want existed in many places, the nation's 
revenues did not equal the current expenses, and peo- 
ple were beginning to question whether or not the 
logic of the champion of the McKinley Bill had not 
after all been right ; whether or not they would have 
bad all their present troubles if that measure had 
had opportunity to show what results it could produce. 
It was natural, therefore, for them to turn to McKinley 
as one to whom they were ready to entrust the 
guidance of the affairs of the nation. His nomina- 
tion by the Republicans was certain far in advance 
of the convention and after an exciting campaign 
he was elected. 

Two issues had divided the country — the protective 
tariff and the gold standard. McKinley's election 



50 MEMORIAL OF 

meant the restoration of the one and the mainte- 
nance of the other. Two days after his inauguration, 

lir railed Congress to meet in extra session on the 
fifteenth of March, and on that date he sent to it a 
message calling on it to provide without delay rev- 
enues fur the expenses of the government, and urg- 
ing that those revenues be so raised as to preserve 
as far as possible the home market for the home 
producers. The result was the Dingley Tariff Bill, 
that became a law in less time than any previous 
tariff measure since the days of Washington. The 
dav that it was signed, June 24, the President, 
having redeemed his promise to restore the protective 
tariff, sent a message to Congress in fulfilment of the 
second great promise made in the campaign, namely, 
to keep the currency stable in value, and equal to 
that of the most advanced nation of the world; and 
that necessary changes might be made for the sim- 
plification ami strengthening of the hanking ami cur- 
rency laws, he recommended the appointment of a 
commission to consider the whole subject. Again in 
his first and second annual messages he urged the 
action of Congress on the same line, and particularly 
pointed out the weakness resulting from the fad that 
the currency liabilities of the country, redeemable in 
gold, could again be paid out from the treasury and 
again be presented by the public for redemption, thus 
resulting in the ''endless chain." and draining the 
Treasury of its gold reserves, lie recommended that 



william Mckinley. 51 

when any United States notes are redeemed in gold, 
such notes shall be kept and set apart, and paid out 
in exchange only for gold. This recommendation was 
adopted in the financial law of 1900, by which also 
the gold standard was re-established. 

McKinley had been proclaimed in the campaign of 
1896 as " the advance agent of prosperity." It is cer- 
tain that Ids election restored confidence to the business 
world, and the passage of the tariff and currency meas- 
ures of his administration was followed by years of 
prosperity unequalled in the history of the country. 

But it was the war with Spain that gave birth to 
policies and determined courses that will render the 
administration of President McKinley ever one of 
greatest interest. It marks a turning point in his- 
tory. McKinley was thorough. The nation has had 
no man in its highest office who was more thorough 
in his mastery of principles, theories, facts and details. 
This element in his character brought him success as 
a lawyer, and made him the foremost champion of 
protection in the country. It was this same charac- 
teristic that caused him, when the nation was angry 
and hot for war with Spain, to delay the momentous 
decision until, in the forum of the world, his course 
was justified, and until his information was com- 
plete and the preparedness of America sufficient to 
insure success. Manila Bay and Santiago, sea fights 
more strange than fiction, with results bordering 
upon the miraculous, revealed not only the training 



52 MEMORIAL OF 

and courage of American officers, the energy, zeal and 
patriotism of the men behind the guns, but also the 
wonderful foresight and the admiration-challenging wis- 
dom of President fylcKinley and those he had called to 
participate in the councils of the government. Mar- 
vellous exhibitions of heroism not on the sea alone, but 
nil the land as well, made the era forever brilliant, and 
American youth to the latest generations will gather 
inspiration from reading the story of Dewey who made 
it impossible for foreign arrogance to ever again pass 
the Stars and Stripes ■• without seeing them"; of Cap- 
tain Philip and his magnanimous words in the hour of 
victory, "'Don't cheer, boys, the poor devils are dying": 
of Hobson and his heroes calmly steaming into the jaws 
of death ; of Roosevelt and his impetuous Rough Riders 
irresistibly storming hill and block-house. These bril- 
liant deeds belong to McKinley's administration, and. 
as the Commander-in-Chief is held responsible for the 
defeats and disasters that befall those who serve under 
him, so is he entitled to share in the fame and glory of 
their aehie\ einents. 

5Tet, it is not because of these that McKinley's 
administration marks the beginning of a new era. It 
is because of America's expansion in territory, and in 
world influence. When the war began the domain of 
our banner stopped three miles from the shore on the 
east and the west. Now it protects Cuba; it covers 
Porto Rico, Guam, Tutuila, Hawaii, and the Philip- 
pines. Then, apart from trade and barter, the world 
, i— iimed that American interests extended not beyond 



william Mckinley. 53 

the American continent, and that the Monroe' Doc- 
trine, that pledged our hostility to every attempt on the 
part of any nation of Europe to gain a further foothold 
in the New World, carried with it as its corollary 
the proposition that America would not concern her- 
self in the affairs of the Old. But now there are 
ten millions of Filipinos for whose welfare we are 
responsible. China continues on the political map as 
an undivided country, through our influence. America 
has expanded, and not only occupies a place at the 
council table of nations, but in the growing light of 
the dawn of her international greatness she seems 
to be at the head of the table. Too little time has 
intervened for the world to agree as to the wisdom 
of this great change in national policy, but none to- 
day questions the motives of the president responsible 
for it. 

He was not ambitious to extend American terri- 
tory. He did not desire that the American people 
should become a ruler over less favored peoples. He 
showed in his dealing with the Chinese question that 
he did not consider sovereignty as essential for the 
trade interests of the United States. He had directed 
every effort to prevent the war with honor, but the 
American people had by their attitude declared it. 
Convinced that it was inevitable and just he entered 
into it determined to use every effort to compel Spain 
speedily to seek peace. It was the avowed object of 
the United States to stop crimes against humanity in 
the Island of Cuba, and to make the future of that 



54 MEMORIAL OF 

island secure by obtaining for it independence. But 
the consequences of the struggle no one could fore- 
see. That the object of America might be accom- 
plished, it was necessary to strike her antagonist 
wherever there was an opportunity to deliver a 
decisive blow, and thus, when the war closed, it 
was found that the United States was as much in 
possession of the Philippines as of Cuba, and thai the 
dictates of humanity, winch urged the championship 
of the cause of the Cubans, equally urged the cham- 
pionship of the cause of the inhabitants of the Philip- 
pines. The treaty was signed, and to the United 
States was ceded the sovereignty of those distant east- 
ern islands. The welfare of their inhabitants must 
be secured either through government on the part of 
the United States, or through a home government. 
There was no other alternative. President McKinley, 
acting upon the information and advice of as well- 
informed and as disinterested men as could be found 
decided that the inhabitants of the Philippines were 
in it equal to the task of governing themselves, ami 
so he kept our flag there. Thus these islands were 
prevented from becoming a prey to other nations; 
thus they were prevented from becoming a source of 
contention that might easily have involved great 
nations in arms; thus they were prevented from 
becoming victims of the disorder that was sure to 
resull from the attempt of an ill-prepared people to 
maintain a government for themselves; thus, the 



WILLIAM McKINLEY. 55 

peace of the world, the welfare of the Filipinos, and 
the obligations of the United States were secured by 
the President. 

It is unpleasant to recall that not only his policy 
but his motives were attacked in language severe 
and scurrilous ; that for doing the right, " as God 
gave him to see the right," he was called "rec- 
reant to American principles," "usurper," "traitor." 
No men were more vilified in their lifetime than 
Washington, Lincoln, Grant and McKinley, but all 
men unite in loving tribute to their memories. The 
sequence of events justified the first three as it will 
suicly justify, aye, has already justified, the last. 

In 1900 he was reelected President by the largest 
popular majority ever given a candidate for that 
office. This expression of the people's good-will was 
a source of great gratification to him. It was for 
them he had devoted his best thought and energy. 
He had sought to win their love, and he had succeeded. 
On his journey through the South and West, after 
his inauguration, he was the recipient of a continu- 
ing ovation. He saw evidence that the country had 
not had such an era of good feeling since the early 
days of the republic. Much of their prosperity the 
people attributed to his wise administration. They 
hailed him not only as President, but as a benefactor. 

He went to Buffalo to greet all America. He 
spoke with power. Without wavering in his belief 
in the system of protection, he showed how the 



56 MEMORIAL OF 

principles of reciprocity harmonized with it, and urged 
it in the interests of the United States and of fra- 
ternity among nations. With no presentiment of the 
tragedy so sunn to be enacted he closed his speech 
with the benediction: 

"Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously 
vouchsafe prosperity, happiness and peace to all our 
neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and 
the powers of earth." 

The week McKinley lay between life and death 
did not make him greater, but it revealed him. Those 
who had questioned his motives recognized that they 
had misjudged the man. and, after his death, in 
sorrow they endeavored, by well-sounding praise, to 
make amends, but — McKinley was dead. Shall this 
lesson be lost? Or shall it teach American journalists 
and statesmen. American citizens of every class, the 
wisdom of that charily that is tolerant of the 
opinions of others ? 

McKinley was not a genius in the commonly 
accepted interpretation of that term. lie did not, 
nor did his friends for him. claim the possession of 
talents of startling brilliancy; he believed in no 
success except such as attended effort. lie did not 
believe in fortune. '■Luck." he said, "will not last. 
young man: it may help you. hut you cannot count 
upon it. Labor is the only key to opportunity." lie 
acted on this precept, and probablj averaged as many 
hours of Labor as any man in the country. 



william Mckinley. 57 

He was one of the most amiable of men, and 
this amiability was sometimes misinterpreted as weak- 
ness. His physical courage had been shown in war, 
and his moral courage demonstrated in peace, but 
perhaps never more conspicuously than by his calm 
demeanor when, although bitterly assailed, he pur- 
sued to the end the course that he had determined 
upon in the Philippines. Gentleness and courtesy 
are not indications of weakness, but of strength. 
McKinley's amiability, his consideration for all with 
whom be came in contact, never led him to be rec- 
reant to the principles in which he believed, or to 
a duty he was called upon to perform. 

He possessed tact. No small portion of his suc- 
cess was due to his ability to deal with men. He 
could refuse a request in such a way as not to offend, 
but rather to strengthen the regard for him of the 
one whose request had been denied. 

He was responsive to public opinion. He was a 
public servant. He recognized that he, William 
McKinley, might err in judgment, and the results be 
grievous to those whom he desired to serve. Hence, 
his endeavor to keep in touch with the public, that 
he might revise or correct his own opinion if wrong, 
or, if right, that he might bring the people to the 
adoption of his views and thus ensure the success of 
his policy. It was not to serve himself, or to sub- 
stitute his individual will or opinion for that of the 
American nation, that he held office. He recognized that 



58 MEMORIAL OF 

the people had a right to discuss and to shape the policies 
of their country — he believed in the people. Invested 
with power by them, he did not seek to take advan- 
tage of it to force them unwillingly along the lines 
ul policies to which they were hostile. He recog- 
nized that from the vantage ground of his position 
he was better informed and better able to judge as 
to the expediency or wisdom of many measures than 
those whose opportunities for information were more 
limited, but that did not cause him to expect their 
blind following. Hence, when convinced as to the 
proper course to be pursued, he look his country- 
men into his confidence. lie desired for his policies 
their endorsement, but there is not an instance on 
record where he swerved a hair's breadth from the 
line of policy dictated to him by his conscience. 

He was able to judge men. The administration of 
the Executive Department under him was thoroughly 
systematized. He selected the ablest men that he could 
find — men in whom he had confidence. He placed 
responsibility upon them. They knew that he held 
them accountable. By his ability to make use of 
their talent- he was enabled to discharge with great 

rapidity the increasing volume of public business. 

lie was a partisan. He believed that, in a rep- 
resentative government, the greatest safeguard of 
the people's liberties was to he found ill political 
parties, that, with jealous eye. watch each other, and 
whose onh hope of success is through winning the 



william Mckinley. 59 

respect of the majority of the electors. He believed 
parties should make their contests for principles, and 
not for offices. His partisanship had its beginning 
and its end in patriotism, and there was no room 
in his platform for the degrading, non-American 
and dangerous ideas of those who place the party 
first and make the welfare of the city, state or 
nation secondary to it. 

He exhibited the power of the great orator. 
There were others more eloquent, but there were 
few more convincing. He could clothe the dry 
schedules of the tariff with attractiveness and 
beauty ; his voice could hold the members of Con- 
gress in their seats as very few have been able to 
do during the present generation. He showed 
the greatest power of endurance. Others may 
have made as many addresses, but each of 
McKinley's contained something of value. In the 
National campaign of 1894 he made three hundred 
and seventy-one speeches, and travelled more than 
ten thousand miles. For eight weeks of this time 
he averaged seven sjjeeches a day. 

His public and private life were without stain, and 
his ambition never led him to seek preferment by 
questionable methods. He would not win the prize, 
if to do so, he must tolerate practices that robbed 
it of its true worth. He had not only rather be 
" right than to be president," but he would not 
have the Presidency unless it came to him in such 



GO MEMORIAL OF 

a way that no one could question the steps by which 
it was attained. There were things he would "nol 
do even to be President." 

I was in Buffalo. It was night. The Exposition 
City, crowded with tens of thousands of guests, could 
not sleep. The scene was wild, the streets were 
filled with people. They seemed neither on pleasure 
nor on business bent. They stood and talked in 
groups, and went here and there, back and forth. 
There was no harmony; all was discord. Sonic great 
thing was wrong. Twelve o'clock, one o'clock, two 
o'clock came, and still the streets were thronged. 
Then there came the rushing footsteps of the news- 
boys, and their cries readied my window, " McKinley 
is dead! McKinley is dead!" He had held the 
highesl place among men. had been the brilliant 
administrator of a great nation's affairs, had been 
consulted in the congress of nations, had marked out 
the policies of the Old and the New World, had been 
Commander-in-Chief of the army thai overthrew the 
tyranny of an ancient and proud kingdom, had 
uplifted the down-trodden, was the beloved of eighty 
million of his countrymen, Moses died on the moun- 
tain with the promised land in sight. The pistol 
shot dulled forever the ears of the great Lincoln as 
the cries of victory rose triumphant in the North. 
The assassin's bullet loosed the kindly soul of the 
loved McKinley when, with prophetic vision, he was 
urging an era of fraternity and of peace. 



WILLIAM McKINLEV. 61 

" McKinley is dead ! " cried the newsboys, and I 
look across the prairie to the great city by the lake, 
and I see amid the noise of traffic a motley crowd 
of men and women of all nationalities, of all pur- 
suits, rich and poor, high and low, the humble and 
the proud, gathered about the bulletin. They read, 
■• McKinley is dead." They bare their heads, and, 
amid the falling rain, their lips break into Christian 
prayer and song. I hear the clicking of the tele- 
graph, and it speaks in the voice of Edward, the 
King — "I sympathize with the American nation in 
the loss of her distinguished and ever to be regretted 
President." And again it speaks, and it is the voice 
of William, the Emperor — "Germany mourns with 
America for her noble son." And again, and it is 
the voice of the President of France — "I sympa- 
thize in the calamity which bereaves the great 
American nation of a President so justly respected 
and loved." And again, and it is the voice of the 
President of Mexico — " His death will be mourned 
in this country hardly less than in the United 
States." And then a thousand instruments begin to 
click in every land, and the wires that bind the 
world are heavy with the messages of sorrow from 
kings and queens and presidents and peoples, until 
there is no corner of the earth that has not expressed 
its grief, no people that has not put on mourning. 
Half-masted is the flag of mankind. And now there 
comes a hush. The telegraph speaks no message, 



62 MEMORIAL l 'l 

the cars in the cil \ street- stand still, the iron horse 
pauses in his stride across the country, the mills stop 
grinding, the shutters are on the windows, the doors 
of the great exchanges close, and the world sobs 
while the sepulchre "pens and into it enters all that 
is mortal of William McKinley. lint the greal soul 
lias moved on. 

"For tho 1 the Giant Ages heme the hill 
And break the shore, and evermore 
Make and break, and work their will: 
Though world on world in myriad myriads roll 
Round us, each with different powers, 
And other forms of life than ours, 
What know we greater than the soul/" 

The mortal is buried: the soul departed; the 
example remains, and so long as "On God and God- 
like men we build our trust" that example will 
remain as the greatest gilt of MoKinley to his 
country. It will lie an example for the American 
youth to emulate. He was the full-rounded man — 
uncompromising with evil, vet unfailing in courtesy: 
•slow to act, but certain in decision ; able to grasp 
the broad problems of statesmanship, but fully pos- 
sessed of the merest detail of legislation; genial in 
public and in his home: partisan, yel patriot more 
than partisan; soldier, when his country needed, but 
ever a lover of peace; ambitious, but for the sub- 
stance, and not the shadow — to be, and not to 



william Mckinley. 63 

seem to be. Would one learn of valor? He was 
thrice promoted for valorous conduct on the field of 
battle. Would one learn of the beauty of the mar- 
riage vow ? See his incessant devotion to the bride 
of his youth. Would one learn of patriotism ? Read 
how he was ready to die for his country in war, 
and how he lived for her in time of peace ; how his 
every public utterance was for her ; how he loved 
his flag, and how, when the crisis approached in the 
policies of the nation, and history was being made 
in a day, it was his thrilling question " Who shall 
pull it down ? " That settled the issues of the hour, 
and showed the nation that the way to peace and 
honor was not through retreat and defeat, but 
through advance and triumph. Would one learn (if 
statesmanship? Read how, without dictation or as- 
sumption, he brought Congress time and again to the 
support of his policies, and how when surrounded by 
great men in his cabinet he so dominated that none 
impressed his own individuality upon any policy of 
the administration. Read how he restored the 
nation's credit; how he championed a policy which 
caused the rivers of the nation to be harnessed 
again to the chariots of manufacture, and set the 
looms humming, and the spindles singing, and the 
anvils chanting. Read how his hand directed, and 
his voice commanded, when the nation, emerging 
from the tempest of war, swung from her ancient 
course, and hove into view as a world power, to 



64 MEMORIAL OF 

be reckoned with wherever her interests were in- 
volved, to Lie feared wherever the rights of an 
A.merican citizen were abridged, to be loved where- 
ever oppressed humanity was seeking for freer and 
better conditions of life. Read how his policy led 
A.merica to overleap her ancient bounds, and. qo 
longer confined to the continent, hemmed in bj 
the surges breaking on the shore, with one fool 
upon the land, and the other upon the sea. to unfurl 
her protecting banner, until to Hawaii there came 
annexation, and to Cuba there came the organization 
of a. home government, the fruition of her hopes for 
a hundred years, and to the Philippines rest and 
order, such as they had never known before. Read 
how his attitude when the world clashed in China 
resulted in saving that ancient nation from dismem- 
berment, and contributed to the peace of mankind. 
Read how his instructions to the delegates at the 
Peace Conference turned their thoughts from the 
impractical proposition of disarmament to the prac- 
tical plan of settling international difficulties by 
arbitration, thus hastening the day when war shall 
be no more. Would one lean) of honor'.' Read how 
twice he refused the highest crown among men, the 
Presidency of the United States, because he was 
pledged to the cause of another. -'I will not stultify 
my character for any reward on earth," was his 
word, and his action was suited to the word. 
Would one learn of Christianity? Read how he 



WILLIAM McKINLKY. 65 

prayed "May God forgive him," in the moment he 
was struck down ! Aye ; stand by his bedside and see 
him as he dies. Nations are there, but he is not 
thinking of thrones, or powers, or empires ; not of 
glory, or of men ; not of pomp or splendor ; not of 
treaties or of conquests. His it has been to speak 
and armies marched, navies thundered, cities sur- 
rendered, and nations sued for peace. Yet his 
thoughts are not on armies or navies now. He 
hears not the plaudits of the people, nor sees the 
weeping of mankind; the earth is fading; he speaks 
— it is not of regret, not of vengeance, not of pride, 
but of harmony with the purposes of the Infinite — 
" God's will, not ours, be done," and he drifts out 
on unknown seas under the Great Captain of the 
Universe into the dawning eternities faintly singing 
" Nearer my God to Thee." 

"Such was he; his work is done; 

But, while the races of mankind endure. 
Let his great example stand 
Colossal, seen of every land, 
And keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure, 
Till in all lands, and through all human story, 
The path to duty be the path to glory." 



66 MEMORIAL OF WILLIAM McKIXLKV. 

At the conclusion of the eulogy the audience joined with 
the Apollo Club in singing " Nearer My God To Thee," and 
the exercises were closed with the following benediction by 
Rev. Father Rockwell. 

May the blessing of God descend upon you all, and 
abide with you forever. May the blessings of 
domestic peace enter into your homes, the blessings 
nf family union among father, mother, son and 
daughter. May the same favor come to all our 
fellow-citizens. May the blessings of peace and fra- 
ternal union bind us all together into a strong har- 
monious nation enjoying peace among ourselves, and 
peace with other nations. May the spirit of kindli- 
ness and fraternity be fostered between high and low, 
rich and poor. May health, industry, prosperity, honor 
and godliness be always with us. God bless our 
country. God bless you all. 



BIOGRAPHY. 




zaE 



aljiif tlji'U'itij 
i&mniment [mix? utitlj &amw fyai 

10 mi longer mtunijj tifi 1 lining. 




uTJjot in tljc iVntij nf 
^JreouVnt Jilciunli'ij m ijave &n& - 
farinrt an imjMKtM* In**, iVi'nhj frit 
luj our litij, our amntnj, tint mankind. 




ESOWED 



"uTijitf m honor % 
k miii jiriuati' virtue* of fijr iV'- 
?ascft, his ritueusljin, Ijis J\.iueriamicm!, 
!|iy shu|iliritij,anit hi* faitlr. 




uTIjat tl]i' imnnlu'rci of flje afg 
government of 3!?05tOtt,roilertiveln, nnv 

inoiviomtlhi, offer to tlje family of tljr 
late president their full suHtjmtljg 
intlji* sorrowful itan, of itffttrttou. 



BIOGRAPHY. 



William McKinley, the twenty-fifth President of 
the United States, was born in Niles, Trumbull 
County, Ohio, January 29, 1843. The father of the 
President, William McKinley, Sr., was born in Pine 
Township, Mercer County, Pa., in 1807, and married 
Nancy Campbell Allison of Columbiana County, 
Ohio, in 1829. William McKinley was educated in 
the public schools of Niles, Union Seminary, at 
Poland, Ohio, and Allegheny College, at Meadville, 
Pa. Enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War, 
June 11, 1861, as a private in the 23d Ohio Volun- 
teer Infantry. He served throughout the war and 
received successive promotions until March 14, 1865, 
when he was brevetted Major for gallantry in the 
battles of Opequan, Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill. 
Was mustered out July 26, 1805, immediately took 
up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar 
in March, 1867. In 1869 was elected prosecuting 
attorney of Stark County. On January 25, 1871, 
married Miss Ida Saxton. Elected a member of the 
National House of Representatives in 1876 and 
served for fourteen years. Defeated in 1890, the 



70 MEMORIAL OF WILLIAM McKIXLEY. 

district having been changed. Elected Governor of 
Ohio in 1891 and re-elected in 1893. On June 18, 
1896, was nominated for President, and was elected 
the following November. Elected for a second term 
in 1900. Was shot by an assassin at the Buffalo 
Exposition grounds, September 0, 1901, and died 
from the effects of the wound September 14. 1901. 



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